Taming the Emotional Roller Coaster
I remember the day our then-largest client told me their investors had abruptly pulled out and they couldn’t pay the 6 months worth of salaries they owed us. And I remember the satisfaction, months later, of being on solid ground with new, amazing clients and a really dedicated team.
I remember sitting in a little one-person office, head on my desk, breath fogging up the surface of my self-assembled Target office furniture 30 seconds after finding out that a third-party vendor’s mail server got hacked and we had to notify the FBI. And I remember the subsequent elation of passing security audits with flying colors.
I remember the day we got that one app project we really wanted, and the one after that, and the one after that. I remember the launch parties and press mentions. And I’m pretty sure I remember every compliment we’ve ever received, but of course, if I forgot, I wouldn’t know, would I?
And then the clients’ ups and downs. The wins, the losses, the big opportunities, the ones that were missed, the punches from users and investors and tangentially related people who had to stick their nose in things, and the praise that seems to show up when you least expect it, from the most unexpected of sources..
We live hundreds of corporate lifetimes through our clients, and of course those are piled on top of the undercurrent of our own cycles.
Because of the velocity with which we as advisors experience these ups and downs, we get to see it with a little perspective. We know that although we do this every day, for our clients, it’s a rarer event, so we have the luxury of a little longer view on these things – namely, that sometimes it all feels big and heavy and people don’t always talk about that enough amid all of the highlight reels.
We so deeply know this to be true that at the beginning of a project, we often show clients the illustration at the top of this article.
Knowing the roller coaster is happening doesn’t prevent the big feelings, but it does help put them in perspective: this too shall pass.
It also allows us to talk about some important concepts. While we can’t fully prevent the roller coaster, we can tame it. Here are some tips to do that:
Clarify the definition of success (over and over again). You are generally better off doing a smaller number of things well than doing a larger number of things in a mediocre way. Ruthlessly prune the list until each item has a clear pathway to success backed by solid investment.
Be realistic about the time your team needs to put in. There are generally subject matter experts and technical experts, whether you’re working internally or externally. Hiring an outside firm can be a great way to speed up time to market, but there will still be input needed from your team. Commit to having decision-makers at every meeting and giving SMEs and technical resources the time they need to make choices that will serve the project well.
Be realistic about the cost. Great user experience costs money, both in design and research and implementation. It can be tempting to skimp, but without sufficient budget to optimize the peak moments, your project will lack the gravitational pull that brings users back again and again.
Be realistic about calendar time. It’s so incredibly exciting when you’re on the cusp of something big. But shorting the timeline can absolutely decimate your team’s ability to pull off the details that will make it successful. In most cases, in a year you won’t care that you launched a week earlier - but you might miss out on the really good stuff if you cut all the room to make it special.
Light the entire path. Technology is just one step on the pathway. Marketing, communications, business processes, change management and support all play critical roles in ensuring a smooth process. Make sure they are all a part of your plan.
This ride certainly has its ups and downs, but they’re all a part of the process. At the end we’ll all be exhilarated, maybe a little weak in the knees, with smiles on our faces, saying to one another “Let’s go again.”
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